The New Zealand TABLET THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1907. SOME SOCIAL CANCERS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 16, 18 April 1907, Page 21

The New Zealand TABLET THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1907. SOME SOCIAL CANCERS

tR. M: U. J)'SULLIVAN, one of -the; brightest" ornaments of, the medical profession' in Australia, has been working the, probe, around in some of the cancerous spots in/ the"^ conjugal life of these" countries. A lay sermon will often succeed in injecting ». rights principles 1 _- . _ where the voice" -ot- the -" ordained preacher cannot even , get. a^.- hearing. Arid-r^stiandang in the front of the front rank of' his profession"^ . Ausrtralia as. a gynecolcigist— this distinguished ' son o£ the Church has wrought in season a-iuT out of J " season-, in. lecture, address, and- demonstration, to soak into the minds of his fellow-practitioners the true Catholic principles that govern the most' sacred and solemn duties - of the medical profession. A ; recent "issue .of, the ! Australasian.- Medical Gazette ""contains an address which he delivered, as retiring 7 president, --before the -Medical Society of Victoria. Among other- things, he pleads with forceful eloquence" for the" sacred and inalienable rights of- pre-natal life. "The cowardly csime of.-"' pre- - natal -murder — once ,so shockingly common in the degenerate days of pa-gam Greece and Rome — was practically altogether abolished by ' the", beneficent ' a'cti-on of. the Cathoftc . Church. That high .crime of a cprrupi^aiid decadent barbarism" was revived -.by -English? surgeofis towards the close of the eighteenth century. "-It-';cf6ssed the .Straits of Dover , into France ; next^ "after strenuous opposition, secured- a -hold -"among, the medical' profession in Germany- ; .grew . at length into . the" "proportions"'of- a firstrclass scandal -vtir many _ countries ;<y fell into disrepute as higher skill' , and a better knowledge of underlying moral principle's spread among the"- "professors of the healing art ;■ and- to-day may'" be said •

to foe practised only by social outcasts and (as Dr. O' Sullivan says in effect in his lecture) by degenerate practitioners who are content to wallow in '< the dark ages of obstetrics.' In the lecture before us,' Catholic moral principles are also applied to the menacing problem^ of race-sui-cide. ' This detestable practice ' is charged to fashion, cowardice, shiftless poverty, too high living, and 'the aimless dilettantism of women who -will not mar .their beauty or disturb their patrician pleasures with the cares of maternity.' And thus we witness s5 often in our day the pitiful sight of a-'djeliberately starved ina/terna'l instinct expending itself upon a, pampered poodle— and often even -in this passing life the ' retribution that falls in the physical order upion the violation of a Godgiven -liawj., ' The care of her ohilldren, ' sajys Dr. O' Sullivan, 'is a woman's natural outlet for energy and affection ' ; it creates a bond that adds to the cohesiveness and dignity of marriage ; and ' hopeless disruptions are less likely to .occur in a home,- where the potential antagonists are. -at least united in a common love for their little- 'ones, and regard for' their welfare.' Here is a passage on another of the.modern scourges of conjugal life which is worth reproducing in full :— ' • ' Over five hundred yea~iS elapsed from the foundation- of Rome before the first divorce. was granted.. In those days when nature's Madly laws gave 'brains and Lone and sinew to the nation, no power oould withstand the onslaught' of the Roman legions. But thetfane came when, as the degenerate Roman man evaded his duty of personally defending his country,, so the decadent Roman woman declined .'her -duty of bearing sons; when childlessness became common ; when the family institution fell ; when the Latin race underwent an a-larmdng diminution <; when divorces were obtained on 'the flimsiest grounds ; when the Roman ladies termed the unborn child the ■" indecens onus," and got rid of it. . . ' But national sins beget national - wo£s, and - .the Roman Empire perished for lack of men. ' The early Greek prided himself en the number of his sons who could fight for his country. In -the-days of Thermopylae, Greece wen the admiration of the world for her heroism and dauntless courage. Her navies swept the Mediterranean, her colonies occupied its coast, her free men owned no master, her sovereign commonwealth no tyrant. Yet 'twas but a brief period— as periods go in world-history— ereTfer- serried - rank^s quailed before the Roman soldiers and the Greek 'became a slave. - 1 What is the lesson herein contained ? Why this dire disaster to a country whose family inistitutiom was once its security and its pride ? The story of her decadence you are all conversant with ; it is shortly told;' Spoiled by prosperity and warped by an empty philosophy, .she would not have her classic tastes, her beauty" and her art, disturbed by family cares and family ties. . ' One of her own countrymen writes that V, the downfall of Greece was not- o.wing to war or to plague but mainly -to a repugnance to marriage, and a reluctance to rear large families, caused by an extravagantly hagh standard of living." A strangely foreboding rinsr about these words when we think of the birth statistics of our British peoples ! What happened 'to Rome and Greece may some day befall our own beloved country • grief may tread upon the heels of pleasure ; the hour may come when, through national calamities or reverses we may suffer a similar -fate, and die for want.of men.' Here— viewing the matter merely from the standpoint of the patriot and not of the moralist— is I food for v thought for these southern lands at a time when* the problem' of national defence has to be faced. Judging by the statistical returns, it looks as if Australia and ■ New Zealand are doomcid J.,0 ' 'die for want' of men '—to pass out- in dishonor like the once hardy stock that long peopled the New England States of America. They have died of moral dry rot and physical decay, and more moral and virile Catholic peoples fill .their places to"day.

, A final word- is -well worth quoting from the eminent Australian surgeon. It' is ta^en by him from the report of the New York Coanmittee of Fifteen on the social evil :—

' The evils oJ alcoholism should be impressed on both boys and girls, especially the latter. Alcohol— more particularly in the case of women— is a fraquent road t 0 the street and disease. / • . ' '•The modern tendency to -train- girls to-be social butterflies is a .great -: : evil, one that is -easier to criticise adversely than to correct.- The home is the -greatest moral inhibitor- in society. Yet domestic • duties • and accomplishments are considered unrefined and undignified. Dress and society are the keystones of the modern- hothouse method of training girls. Girls trained in this manner are in; danger from their very -helplessness, whenthey axe -suddenly thrown on their own resources, or .marry • men who cannot pro\«Lde the Luxuries ' and social refinements to which they are accustomed. ' The set- ~ called higher . education fails - here. This" evil will prevail so long as mothers encourage in their daughters - a spirit of resentment or indifference to home duties as something, unworthy or undignified. The. poor man's daughter, who -believes herself better than her- hardworking mother, is always in danger. . ~ 1 The age.,, which shall restore the dignity of domestic labor will do a, great -work in antagonising the social Parents will duly make a note of tikis weighty pronouncement of a noted body of experts. The remedy for these rodent ulcers of society (says the" Australian specialist) is, first and above all, ' education, moral and physical, pointing the way our nature must .take -if sheis to shun "the dark places of race-suicide and endure by " proving -to "herself but true".'